Banking Law

NY State Suit: Lender-Appraiser Scheme Inflated Home Values

In violation of federal lending regulations, a major real estate appraisal company and two of the nation’s biggest savings and loans participated in a scheme to inflate the value of homes throughout the country, contends a lawsuit filed by New York’s attorney general. It accuses eAppraiseIT, a division of First…

Nov 1, 2007 5:25 PM CDT

Biggest Lender to Modify $16B in Mortgages

Facing a surge of possible foreclosures and potential federal legislation to strengthen lending standards, the nation’s largest home-mortgage lender will allow 82,000 or so customers holding some $16 billion worth of adjustable-rate mortgages to move into safer fixed-rate products. Countrywide Financial Corp. announced today that it will offer the option…

Oct 23, 2007 4:21 PM CDT

Congress Mulls Consumer Mortgage Bill

After months of concern over the state of the nation’s mortgage market, a leading Democrat has introduced legislation in the House of Representatives that would create a consumer bill of rights in home lending transactions. It would require “a mortgage originator to act solely in the best interest of the…

Oct 23, 2007 12:36 AM CDT

Controversial BigLaw Clients: ‘Vulture Funds’

Big law firms in London and the U.S. that represent so-called vulture funds are becoming a target for criticism. A number of funds have purchased distressed sovereign debt issued by Third World countries at a fraction of its face value, then retained a major law firm and sued for the…

Oct 17, 2007 6:15 PM CDT

MA Leans Harder on Mortgage Lenders

In the latest of a series of aggressive efforts by the state of Massachusetts to deal with the local effects of a national crisis in mortgage lending, the governor announced today that he plans to pressure lenders in the communities hardest-hit by foreclosures to agree to “short sales.” The term…

Oct 15, 2007 8:53 PM CDT

Foreclosure Crisis, Widespread Risky Debt

Mortgage foreclosures nationwide last month were down a bit from August’s blistering pace, but were still nearly double the number in September 2006. And, although a so-called subprime mortgage meltdown in certain segments of the country has been widely blamed for the number of homeowners losing the battle to pay…

Oct 11, 2007 3:53 PM CDT

Fax Cited in Hearing Against FL Lawyer

A lawyer for banking regulators pointed to a fax in an effort to show intentional wrongdoing by a former Greenberg Traurig lawyer accused of hiding evidence of $20 million in losses for a now-defunct bank. Special Counsel Lee Strauss argued that Florida lawyer Carlos Loumiet split pages of a fax…

Oct 10, 2007 11:18 AM CDT

Parties Lawyer Up in Sallie Mae Case

As litigation looms between the now-reluctant buyer of a student loan provider and the willing bride, spectators are looking to see who weighs in as lead counsel in a lawsuit to enforce the $25 billion deal—or at least obtain a promised $900 million breakup fee. In Sallie Mae’s corner, heavyweight…

Oct 9, 2007 11:04 PM CDT

FL Lawyer Accused of Hiding Bank Losses

A former partner at Miami-based Greenberg Traurig goes before an administrative judge today to contest allegations that he suppressed material evidence to hide $20 million in losses for a bank client. The Office of Comptroller of the Currency is seeking a cease-and-desist order against Carlos Loumiet that would prevent him…

Oct 9, 2007 11:47 AM CDT

MA Sues Lender, Seeks Foreclosure Role

In a legal action that takes an aggressive and perhaps unprecedented approach to the nationwide mortgage foreclosure crisis, the Massachusetts attorney general is blaming a California-based subprime lender as a “significant” cause of the debacle and seeking damages and an oversight role over all of its foreclosures. Martha Coakley filed…

Oct 5, 2007 10:06 PM CDT

Mortgage Enforcement Targets Lawyers

No lawyers apparently were among the 11 borrowers, sellers and real estate industry professionals arrested today in three separate alleged mortgage fraud schemes in South Florida. But attorneys are likely to find themselves on the wrong side of such cases in the future, authorities say. ”In the coming months, you…

Oct 5, 2007 6:42 PM CDT

Dems Seek Czar, Cite Mortgage ‘Katrina’

Democratic members of Congress called today for President George W. Bush to appoint a “mortgage czar,” among other measures suggested to deal with record-setting numbers of home mortgage foreclosures resulting from risky lending in recent years. The mortgage czar would coordinate a federal response to the mortgage crisis, which should…

Oct 3, 2007 9:07 PM CDT

Latest ID Theft Target: Mayor Bloomberg

Someone at the bank noticed when two fraudulent checks for a total of more than $400,000 were drawn against New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s personal account. But an earlier fraudulent Internet withdrawal for a mere $10,000 reportedly went undetected until the subsequent scam was investigated. Two New Jersey men have…

Oct 2, 2007 11:06 PM CDT

Five Firms in Attorney Fee Free-for-All

After fighting together to win a settlement in a class action over mortgage lender closing costs, a group of Illinois plaintiffs lawyers squared off for a new battle—fighting with each other about how to divide the $1.6 million attorney fee. It appears that a badly drafted attorney fee letter agreement…

Sep 27, 2007 9:23 PM CDT

Missing E-Mail Costs Brokerage $12.5 M

After the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Morgan Stanley said it couldn’t produce a number of e-mails in arbitration cases because they had been destroyed along with the company’s New York City computer servers. But in fact the brokerage reportedly had the e-mails all along on backup files. Now Morgan Stanley has…

Sep 27, 2007 5:16 PM CDT